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Julia Sawalha
'Julia Sawalha '''portrayed the Seventh and Eighth Doctor companion, Katie Tollinger, from 1990-1992. She went on to reprise the character in the spin-off series, Leftover, from 2001-2005. Biography Prior to Doctor Who Sawalha was born in Wandsworth, London, and is daughter of Roberta Lane and actor Nadim Sawalha. Her father was born in Madaba, Jordan. She was named after her paternal grandmother, a businesswoman who had received an award from Queen Noor for enterprise. She is of Jordanian, English, and French Huguenot ancestry. Sawalha was educated at the Theatre Arts School, a fee-paying independent school which is part of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, based at the time in Clapham in south London, which she left at the age of fifteen. She is part of an acting family; Sawalha's father Nadim appeared in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and The Living Daylights, while her sister Nadia starred in the soap EastEnders and is now a television presenter and chat show host with whom she has appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. Sawalha made her debut in the 1982 BBC miniseries Fame Is the Spur and in 1988, played a small role in Inspector Morse on the episode "Last Seen Wearing". She first gained attention for her starring role in the Baftaaward-winning ITV teenage comedy-drama Press Gang, which ran from 1989 to 1993. Work on Doctor Who In 1990 Julia Sawalha was cast as Katie Tollinger, a posh upper-class cat burglar and a new companion for the Seventh Doctor who first appeared in Crime of the Century. Julia continued to play Katie regularly until the season 29 story Transit where her character was killed off after Julia decided to leave. She later appeared as an illusion of Katie in the Season 34 story The Web of Time. Sawalha later reprised her role as Katie in the season 36 story Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust where Katie was resurrected by a race of aliens known as the Mitahi. She later returned in the Season 37 story Here We Go Again which served as the back-door pilot for the spin-off series Leftover. Sawalha starred alongside Elisabeth Sladen, Katy Manning and Caroline John in the spin-off series Leftover which featured Katie leading a team of former companions investigating strange alien activity in Newcastle. The show ran from 2001-2005, with the final Season featuring Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush. She also played a parallel version of Katie in three episodes. Sawalha along with the rest of the main cast of Leftover appeared in Doctor Who (2003), she and the others then later appeared in the Season 42 episode Return to Earth where they played Matrix simulations of their characters. She and the rest of the main Leftover cast reprised their roles for the Season 46 story Mad World and then for the spin-off movie Leftover: End of Days After Doctor Who In 1992 she starred in episode "Parade" (S2 E4) of Bottom as Veronica Head, a beautiful young barmaid at the Lamb and Flag, whom Richie tries to woo by boasting of his false adventures in the Falklands. From 1991–94, she starred in the ITV family comedy Second Thoughts and continued with her character, Hannah (Lynda Bellingham's daughter), in the British Comedy Award-winning Faith in the Future (1995–98). In 1994, she played Mercy (Merry) Pecksniff in the BBC production of Martin Chuzzlewit. From 1992 to 2012, Sawalha played strait-laced daughter Saffron Monsoon in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulousalongside Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley. She appeared in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as Lydia Bennet, with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. She voiced Ginger in DreamWorks/Aardman's Chicken Run. She also played "Dawn the Wise Man" in The Flint Street Nativity on Christmas Eve. In 2000 she appeared as Janet, the Australian barmaid ("Built for bar work; it's instinct... instinct!!") in the first series of the British sitcom Time Gentlemen Please. She also played the much put-upon PA to "Zak" in Argos TV adverts during 2002–2004, along with Richard E. Grant. She has also joined actor Ioan Gruffudd in the internationally successful TV adaptations of C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels, as the captain's wife Maria. The following year, she became Alan Davies's co-star in Jonathan Creek after Caroline Quentin left, appearing in a Christmas Special ("Satan's Chimney"). She returned for a series between 2003–2004. In 2006, she participated in the third series of the genealogy documentary series Who Do You Think You Are? tracing her family's roots, which are Jordanian Bedouin on her father's side, and French Huguenot on her mother's. She also appeared in the pilot of BBC 1's A Taste of my Life presented by Nigel Slater. After a two-year break, she was back on screen in May 2007, competing in the BBC dog training celebrity reality show The Underdog Show. She then returned to acting in two successive BBC costume dramas; as Jessie Brown in 2007 series Cranford, followed by Lark Rise to Candleford in 2008. She provided the voice acting for Sister Hannah (a.k.a. "Hammer"), a main character in the 2008 Xbox 360 video game Fable II. In autumn 2014, Julia played the part of Jan Ward in BBC One's thriller miniseries Remember Me, featuring Michael Palin. On 9 May 2015 she read the account of a member of the Women's Land Army at VE Day 70: A Party to Remember in Horse Guards Parade, London that was broadcast live on BBC1. Personal Life Sawalha lived with Press Gang co-star Dexter Fletcher, and subsequently comedian Richard Herring. She also had a relationship with Patrick Marber. She had a relationship with Keith Allen, whom she met on the set of Martin Chuzzlewit. On 1 January 2004, it was alleged in the tabloid newspapers that she had married Alan Davies, her co-star in the television series Jonathan Creek. Both she and Davies, who avoided discussing their private lives in public, denied this, and took legal action against the reports. She met Rich Annetts at the Glastonbury Festival in 2005. The couple moved to Bath, Somerset, and lived in a flat close to the Royal Crescent. Sawalha started growing her own vegetables, attending yoga lessons and studying for an Open University English degree. Sawalha and Annetts have since separated. Selected Credits Doctor Who as Katie Tollinger *Crime of the Century *Blood and Iron *Night Thoughts *Glory School *The Hostage *Lungbarrow *Nightshade *The Path Not Taken *Transit *The Web of Time *Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust *Night of the Angels *The Dance of the Devil *The Name's Shakespeare William Shakespeare (Archive footage) *Return to Earth *Mad World Leftover as Katie Tollinger *The Forgotten Boy *Everlasting Death *The Inhuman Advantage *The Earth Stands Still *We are the Human Race *Time *Space *The Doctored Papers of 1902 *Mary Bell *The Answer to All Your Troubles *Sweet Dreams *A House of Cards *16th February 2002 *Parallel *Call Me Isabella *We Need to Talk About Mary *The Past is the Past *Sister Suffragettes *Destiny – Or Not *The Entity *The Churchyard Murderer *Matron² *Shattered *Temple *Voyage to the New World *A Murder in Hollywood *Earth’s Savoir *Time’s Fabric *Test of Nerve *Ghost Town *Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre *The Future’s Truth *The Eternity Tower *Goodbye *One Small Step… *Mastermind, Part I *Mastermind, Part II Cold Front as Katie Tollinger *Rivals(''archive footage) *Downfall(archive footage) Movies as Katie Tollinger *Doctor Who (2003) *Leftover: End of Days Category:Actors